Record Levels for Membership

By Debra DeHaney-Howard

Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic, who chairs the Membership Standing Committee, convened committee members on January 26 and reported that membership in the Conference reached record levels and that retention rates have been – and continue to be – very impressive.

Plusquellic also reviewed a number of membership programs and activities for the year 2000 including a direct mail campaign to non-member mayors, personalized mayor to mayor approach, and participation at various municipal state leagues.

Committee members also heard from Jim Welfley, Director of Information Systems for the Conference of Mayors on the key new features of the Conference web site. These features include on-line survey submission, mayoral profile updating, access to an increasing number of Conference reports, and the ability to search “Best Practices” by keywords.

Welfley also announced that the “Meet the Mayor” section, which allows visitors to the web site to gather information about mayors was declared a “Hot Spot” designation by USA TODAY last year.